Contingency Plan
by Shepardnick
Summary: SPARTAN-B312 has known conflict and pain his entire life. To overcome it, he became one of the best humanity had to offer. His entire existence had been inseparably tied to the sole purpose of duty. What happens when you take that from him, and everything he knows? Well, you are left an empty shell... and a very, very dangerous weapon.
1. Chapter 1: The Artifact

**A/N: This story is written by AscalonBlade and I, with him usually writing the first draft for chapters and both of us editing and rewriting later on. We also have a friend that reads through 'em for quality. First chapter'** **s a little short but action-packed. Enjoy.**

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"Good guns, Spartan! All stations brace for cast off." Captain Keyes ordered, the Halcyon-class Light Cruiser freeing itself from its moorings as it began its ascent. Six slowly climbed down the ladder of the Onager, watching as the vessel steadily gained altitude. Blankets of exhaust spewed out of the sequence thrusters, lathering the hull with layers of smoke. The Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser he previously shot was speeding toward the surface, the flight systems completely destroyed. Just as the ship plummeted into the ground, spilling out gusts of billowing dirt and debris, the Pillar of Autumn fired its starboard engine, disappearing into the clouds as the thrusters were discarded.

"This is the Pillar of Autumn. We are away. And the package is with us." Keyes announced over the comm channel, before it went silent.

Six remained still on the deck, gazing up toward the storm filled sky. Lightning streaked across the upper atmosphere, thick clouds twisting and churning violently, completely filling his vision. He had done it, he had completed his mission. The A.I. and all of Doctor Halsey's data was safe and away from enemy hands.

 _But at what cost…_

Glancing back, he caught sight of Noble Four, Emile, slumped against a railing with two dead Zealots at his feet. His kukri was embedded in the neck of the closest Elite. Striding toward his fallen comrade, the Spartan knelt down and retrieved the man's blade, placing it back in its sheath before taking his dog tags. Six simply stared at the fellow Spartan, two scorch marks embedded in his armor's upper torso, his last words echoing in his mind.

 _"I'm ready! How 'bout you?"_

Promptly standing up, Six left the drydock, moving through the building at a leisurely pace. The rusted metal walls were charred black, dozens of fallen Covenant littered throughout the structure. Eventually, he came to a halt on a nearby hilltop, toward the end of the drydock. The surrounding area was filled with dust from the crash, but off in the distance he could see the unmistakable signs of battle. Flashes of light, the thundering of explosives, and the resonating of gunfire, all indications of conflict, all beckoning him to follow. And follow he would, because as a long as he was still standing, he would do everything he could to end the threat of the Covenant.

His heavy metal boots crunched the gravel and violet shards dispersed across the earth, and the Spartan halted momentarily. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting, and take as many of those bastards he could with him. Taking one last look behind him, Six only had one thought cross his mind.

 _See you in hell soon, Spartans._

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"Kill the demon!" A sangheili roared as Six shot a single EMP grenade from his grenade launcher, disabling the shields and following up with a quick headshot from his DMR to silence the Elite Officer. The armor piercing round rang out, puncturing the alien's helm before entering his skull. Bits of brain matter splattered outward onto the ground, his corpse soon following. With their leader now dead, the neighboring group of Grunts went into a frenzy, running off in all directions.

Several hours have already passed and during that time, the Covenant have sent wave upon wave of their forces to eradicate the remaining human resistance. Already having fought them for the majority of the day, Six was starting to feel the fatigue catching up with him. His movements felt strained, his body heavy. He had to keep moving lest he succumb to exhaustion and without his armor, he would have by now.

Switching out for his assault rifle as he sprinted to the panicking group of unggoy, he wiped out the Grunts with some short controlled bursts. While reloading his weapon, he heard the distinctive sounds of banshees soaring above him and dove for cover in a nearby ruin as they performed a strafing run.

Once inside, Six rolled to the right as a Spec Ops Elite stabbed its energy sword into the spot where he was previously. The concrete flooring melted under the immense heat of the shaped plasma, the alien's form materializing into view. Training kicking in, Six tripped the sangheili warrior with a leg sweep, successfully bringing the alien to the ground next to him as he pressed his magnum to its head before firing.

Sweat trickled down the Spartan's face inside his helmet as the injuries he's sustained throughout the day became more and more apparent. Every part of his body burned, his limbs screaming in protest as he slowly stood. Steadying himself, he heard the banshees circling around for another bombardment. Knowing this building wouldn't protect him, he ran outside with his grenade launcher in hand and fired an EMP grenade to knock the vehicles out of the sky. His shield indicator flashed red as his armor began taking hits, the plasma bolts searing into his armor before he hit his mark.

When the enemy aircraft came spiraling downward, Six evaded before they landed right on top of him. Once he was standing again, he immediately threw a grenade followed with one launched from his grenade launcher to destroy the vehicles and their occupants. Breathing more heavily than a Spartan usually would, he holstered his grenade launcher and equipped his DMR as he began looking for a better position to hold out. So far the worst of the Covenant forces he's had to face were wraiths, but his explosives made short work of them. Still, with the amount of ammunition he had, it wouldn't be long until he was down for the count.

Taking in his surroundings, Six spotted what seemed to be the entrance of a bunker on the side of a mountain he was near. While contemplating his next course of action, a plasma blast landed a few feet in front of him, drawing his attention momentarily. It was then that he realized a large platoon with heavy armor was right behind him and closing in fast. Wasting no time in making his decision, he made a break for the bunker, hoping that something inside would be able to help him.

The Spartan was now once again running for his life as plasma fire and fusion rounds flew past him. His shields were fully depleted and the deadly bolts of light were hitting his armor more and more frequently. The burns and wounds were slowing his progress substantially as he felt the pain spread all over his body. His vision darkened as the door became larger the faster he approached. When he finally reached the entrance Six slammed the door controls and it began to slowly open.

He turned around to suppress the enemy, only to have an Elite Field Marshall kick him to the ground. With the air suddenly gone from his lungs, Six was not prepared when the massive alien grabbed him with one arm and lifted him upward by the throat.

"You've fought well demon, but it is now over." The Elite then raised his other hand, holding an energy sword ready to strike.

Before he could finish him off, Six took his knife and rammed it into the sangheili's throat. The alien gurgled while spitting up purple blood, before falling lifelessly to the ground. With one deft motion, the Spartan lifted his dripping weapon and slipped into the bunker, forcing the entrance shut, and barring a pursuing Elite.

The metal barrier shook mutedly, the brunt force of an alien fist impacting it. The bunker was eerily silent, with even the ensuing plasmafire being on the edge of the Spartan's hearing. Slowly, he limped further down a hall into the facility while activating his helmet's nightvision. Panting heavily, he explored the complex, leaving a splattered blood trail in his wake of his hampered gait. After a few minutes, he discovered what seemed to be the main control room, the monitors and inputs dark with inactivity. There were no bodies, and the power seemed to be out everywhere in the structure. Taking a gradual seat at the controls, Six scanned it with his analytical gaze, searching for a way to jumpstart the power.

 _No signs of plasma damage… It seems like everything was turned off manually._

A few minutes later, he had managed allocate power to the control center, his surroundings humming to life. He took a few moments to search through the system's data for anything that might assist him in his current situation, or anything that he might have to erase in following Cole Protocol. What he discovered was data pertaining to some kind of artifact the research team here had unearthed. Briefly skimming through the files, he read that the team had received abnormal readings from the artifact, but other than that it seemed disabled or offline. He promptly copied the relevant files to a personal data module, and initiated the wipe of the entire database.

To his left, a door snapped open, and he had his magnum drawn in a millisecond. But what the door revealed was the artifact the files were addressing. A pillar, bathing its containing room with emerald light, with foreign markings etched into its metal. He shuffled towards it, getting a closer view.

 _Looks like it's online now, something must have activated it._

The ceiling lights began to flicker as the bunker shook abruptly, interrupting Six's thoughts.

 _Seems like they've breached the facility, I'll have to destroy this and anything else of importance before they get their hands on it._

Just as he was about to march away, the artifact intensified the vibrancy of its light, growing to an almost blinding flash, and emitted an ear piercing tone. Before he could react, he was suddenly elevated into the air, his massive frame silhouetted by the light, his helmet's speakers malfunctioning from the sheer volume of the noise. Electricity wrapped around his hulking armor, with gloomy ebony smoke enveloping his vision. Violent images began flooding into his mind at a incomprehensible rate and soon, everything faded to black.

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 **A/N: Hope you liked reading the beginning to this passion project of ours. We love hearing feedback so make sure you review, and ensure criticism is constructive. Bye bye nao.**


	2. Chapter 2: Anomaly Detected

**A/N: AscalonBlade and I poured over this. It's 4 in the morning... Ergh. Anyway, thank you everyone who viewed, faved, followed, reviewed. We didn't expect this much traffic and we very much appreciate all of the attention and support.**

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"Get down!" Her voice rung out over the ear-ringing cacophony of sniper rounds, barely subverting the cranium of Lt. Alenko. He leapt into cover, his body thumping against the jutting metal barrier. The Commander's grip tightened around the frame of her rifle, and she took a convening second to think, briefly closing off the world.

The ground team was on Eden Prime, trying to recover a Prothean beacon for the Council. One of their Spectre agents, Nihlus, was overseeing the mission, but it all went downhill: the synthetic Geth swept through the human colony, a giant dreadnought cast off the planet's surface. and Nihlus had been killed by another turian, of all things.

The tone of Alenko's enhanced voice resounded in her ears, breaking her thoughts. "Commander, we need to disarm the rest of those bombs!"

Shepard nodded, her matted red hair shaking in her helmet. Peering at her tracker, she saw five blips that were stopping them from disarming the final two bombs and getting to the beacon. Briefly peeking over the cover, she spotted four shock troopers bringing up the front and one sniper further back on the walkway.

 _If one of us got to a better position, we could get rid of these things and defuse those bombs._

"Williams," her eyes flicked to the Gunnery Chief the squad picked up earlier, "Pull back and wait to suppress that sniper with your rifle. We'll cover you."

Awaiting Ashley's signal, the other two soldiers began shuffling their fire on the Geth, the Gunnery Chief darting in the background. The Commander's accumulated shots punched through a shock trooper's shields, and her final round penetrated its glaring flashlight head, ripping the life from the synthetic.

 _I can see why the Quarians had so much trouble with these things._

The Gunnery Chief skirted into cover, whipping out her sniper rifle, it's collapsible barrel and stock sliding out with metallic clinks.

"Ready." Ashley grunted out.

 _Three… Two… One…_

"Go!" The Commander exclaimed, and the whizzing fire of an Alliance rifle sounded off, effectively pinning the distant Geth. "Alenko, overload, now!"

In conjunction, the Commander and the Lieutenant's omni-tools primed before releasing a combustion of crackling blue energy into the group of synthetics, breaking their shields with an audible shatter and stunning them.

With a wisp of dark energy, Shepard warped the spasming Geth, and Alenko followed quickly suit. Almost immediately after, a well-aimed shot from Williams' rifle connected with the sniper. As Shepard saw the final Geth fall to the ground lifeless, she swiftly instructed Kaidan to disarm the last of the bombs.

 _About three minutes left, plenty to spare but still cutting it close._

The Commander condensed her rifle, then snapped it onto the back of her armor.

"And… Got it, we're good to go, Commander." Kaidan remarked, giving a final look at his work, "That was the last one."

"Still about two minutes left, nice work Lieutenant _._ " Shepard complimented with an affirming glimpse, and gestured for the squad to regroup. "Let's secure that beacon. Move out."

The squad jogged down the platform, their boots smacking against its surface, and the Commander inhaled and exhaled, her mind wandering; her subliminally alert gaze following the muted warm rays of the sun as they danced across the platform's reflective structure. When they found Nihlus' corpse, Powell, the last surviving dock worker, had told them of another turian, who practically assassinated the unaware Nihlus. All they had to go on was his name, Saren. Hopefully, Captain Anderson would have more info on this guy; for right now, their priority was the beacon.

Surprisingly enough, only a few Geth stood guarding the device.

 _They either didn't think we'd get this far or the info in it isn't that important to them. Whatever way, seems pretty sloppy, for synthetics._

From their vantage point above the beacon, the squad made quick work of the trio; tearing through their shields and rippling their frames with a swift succession of whizzing slugs. Silver liquid dripped from the dispatched Geth as the Commander analyzed the immediate surroundings.

After ensuring that the area was clear, with only the faraway flutter of flame perceptible, they holstered their weapons and moved toward the Prothean object.

The Commander activated her glowing omni-tool, initiating her long-range comm, "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac."

 _I hope this was damn worth it._

"This is amazing." Alenko treaded towards the object, giving it a sideways scrutiny, "Actual working Prothean technology." He shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable!"

Williams' head tilted down the length of the beacon, which was awash in a frayed green glow, "It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."

"Something must have activated it." He answered distantly, more to himself than anything.

The Gunnery Chief returned to the Commander, who was awaiting confirmation from the Normandy. Shepard glanced at her approach, her emerald swirls meeting the Chief's deep brown orbs. The Commander closed her eyes momentarily, and released a steady breath through her nose, before her omni-tool beeped.

"We're locating a good LZ, Commander. The whole colony's been hit hard."

"Roger Normandy; standing by." She finished, dismissing the haptic interface.

Kaidan edged closer to the unearthed artifact, seemingly drawn in by its alien grandeur. Without warning, the radiance of the beacon swelled, and the Lt. was hauled toward the object by an invisible rope, his boots scraping against the floor beneath him, struggling to maintain a grip.

The Commander tilted her head sideways, and her eyes widened as she witnessed this. She shoved past the Gunnery Chief, hoisting Alenko and tossing him to the side unceremoniously. Immediately, she was lifted into the thin air, her legs dangling helplessly off the ground, her stomach lurching from the jolt. She forced her neck to crane downward, the muscles being gnarled tight by an unseen force, and met face to face with a nightmare.

Her mind was assaulted with a violent sequence of images that racked her head to its very core. A flash of things… melting, shearing apart, long tubes cutting into the earth, a sky set aflame. Her brain shuddered in pain, screaming for it to stop. The last sound she heard was an explosion, an expulsion of energy, as her world descended into the comforting embrace of oblivion.

The two squadmates could only stare powerlessly as the beacon expunged its inner energy, firing off shards of ancient alloys. Alenko and Williams dashed to her side, with the former performing a biometric scan and the latter sifting up and down her form, checking for open wounds. Out of the corner of her vision, though, she noticed a mass of whirling smoke, elevating into the dimming firmament. She dispersed it, waving her armored hand back and forth, and through the lifting obscurity was a massive figure. It was decked from head to toe in a bulky chassis, with sparks of scarlet electricity skirting along its sheer contours, dissipating into the floor.

"Her vitals are fine," Kaidan stated reassuringly, "she's just unconscious." He turned to the other soldier, who was perfectly still, at the moment. "Williams, radio the Norman- what is that?"

"It just… appeared after the beacon was destroyed, I'm not sure." Her gaze followed the remnants of the colony, the ablaze landscape, the toppled figures of the nearby Geth. "We can't leave it here; it could be some sort of Geth unit."

He nodded in agreement, tapping into the Normandy's frequency. "Joker, we need pick up ASAP. The Commander is unconscious and we have a package." His eyes flicked to the figure. "And bring the hovlift; it's a big one."

"On our way."

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 **A/N: A bit short but we did our best writing it. There'll be longer, character-focused stuff soon. Please review or we won't know what you guys think and we value your opinions. Bye bye nao.**


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